The Jewrovision is the largest music and dance competition of Jewish youth centers in Germany, which has been held annually in German cities since 2002. On May 14, the 66th Eurovision Song Contest had its day, and now music-loving partying Jews are making their way to Berlin, where, after a two-year Corona break, Jewrovision will take over the German capital from May 26 to 29.
OK, maybe not take over Berlin, but the Central Council of Jews in Germany estimates that around 1,200 young Jewish people from 60 different German communities are expected to take part in the singing competition (for some reason I can’t stop Leonard Cohen’s tune “First we take Manhattan then we take Berlin” from looping in my head).
Obviously, Jewrovision is modeled after the Eurovision Song Contest and will feature twelve groups that will compete against one another. A Jewish band from Berlin won in 2019, so now, instead of in 2020, when the facemasks would have muffled the singing, the time has just come for German Jews to sing and swing.
Daniel Botmann, executive director of the organizing Central Council of Jews in Germany, and organizer of the Jewrovision Song Contest told Deutsche Welle: “Never have we seen so much anticipation as this year. The kids and youth are hungry for community, for coming together, for being with each other. And it’s going to be great.”
The “Jewro” will kick off with the band Chasak Hamburg, and, according to tradition, the winning group of the last competition will perform at the end: Olam Berlin will close the competition this year. The spots in-between are decided by a lottery.
The jury includes people from the music business, including performer and director Uriel Yekutiel, and young German singer and actress Faye Montana.
The patrons of the event are the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, the groups Senior Citizens and Women and Youth, Lisa Paus, and the Governing Mayor of Berlin, Franziska Giffey.
Singer Chesed Gelsenkirchen’s video from Jewrovision 2020, asking why, why.
